Mura

A failed attempt at spending the weekend in the mountains (my fault apparently, for going out for a few beers the night before) led us to Mura, a tiny little town about an hour outside of Barcelona.

The first buildings in the town of Mura were built in the year 1088. Historically, the townspeople toiled in the fields, known for the cultivation of vineyards. Fast-forward a few centuries, and they got a textile factory in the early 1900s. A textile factory in a medieval town in the middle of the mountains of Catalonia. Go figure. The factory closed in the early 60s and the town's population nearly disappeared. It now subsists almost entirely on tourism and most of the population lives elsewhere, spending only the odd holiday in Mura. There are only 230 permanent residents.

We got there around lunchtime and had lunch at Can Carter (Carter's house) where we were left at the bar for almost an hour and a half waiting for a table while more and more people who had arrived after us were seated. It was a most exemplary model of Catalán customer service, a concept that simply doesn't exist here. No apologies were made, barely even a recognition, the woman simply wrote down our names on the list again and said she had forgotten to write us down the first time we asked for a table. Oh well. You can click on the pictures to see them a bit larger I think.